Outdoor Sports & Recreation

Firefighters Monday keep Fern Lake fire at bay

Jake Brollier, Public Information Officer on the Fern Lake fire, looks at the fire from the main road inside of the park. Officials are worried about winds kicking up later in the afternoon on December 2, 2012.
The Fern Lake Fire, which has been burning in Rocky Mountain National Park since October, kicked up yesterday and forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes west of the fire.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

Some of the 600 people evacuated from areas near Estes Park may be allowed to return to their homes Wednesday morning, park spokeswoman Traci Weaver said.

Roughly 250 people, including 150 or so firefighters, have been working to put out the fire.

Winds blowing at about 30 miles per hour, down from a peak 60 mph Sunday night, helped firefighters control flare-ups. Weather forecasters say there's a chance of rain or snow Wednesday night.

A helicopter dropped water on flames and a tanker dropped at least one load of chemical fire-retardant slurry, Weaver said. "We don't drop retardant in the watersheds," she said.

Park officials classified the fire as human-caused, the result of a campfire that spread in early October. One cabin burned in the Moraine Park area. No injuries were reported.

The fire started in hard-to-reach terrain. It burned in densely-forested areas and blew up in wind over the weekend.

Park managers have tried to benefit from fire, using prescribed fires in recent years to improve forest health. But this is a fire they've been trying to snuff, Weaver said. "It was a full-suppression fire from the get-go."

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